


Seven Colours

by rxckets



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Falling In Love, M/M, One Shot Collection, Real Madrid CF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-09-13 09:00:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9116104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rxckets/pseuds/rxckets
Summary: Whenever he looked Gareth in the eye, he saw a rainbow of possibilities. And what was there to get in the way?





	1. Red

Cristiano was livid. To not only be losing El Clásico, but to get a red card, to let his team down like that… He had left the field quickly, ignoring the voices of his teammates, still desperately talking to the referee as if he could take it back, as if he would.

There was no “good luck” to his teammates, no smiling or apology to Zidane, nothing. He got out as quickly as he could, not caring what the media would say about it later. There wasn’t too much time left in the game anyway, so he did at least stick around, pacing back and forth and digging into the palms of his hands.

Whenever the team eventually joined him in the locker room, it seemed like nobody wanted to look him in the eye. Cristiano didn’t want to look at any of them, either, just going through the motions as most of them were. It was always a disappointment to lose to Barcelona, and he knew that he certainly wasn’t helping things.

Sergio came up to him at one point, murmuring that it would be alright and clapping him on the back, but that was all. He saw James watching him as if he wanted to say something, but he never did. Nobody else did, and nobody stopped Cristiano from just leaving whenever he was done.

He walked out with conviction, set on just getting home so that he could fume in peace. He wanted to break something, to punch something, anything to just get it out. Reasonably, he knew that it would be fine. A loss was a loss, a red card was a red card, they were still on top of the table, and they would be just fine.

The self-reassurance didn’t do much for him as he walked out to his car. His hand was on the door whenever he heard somebody calling out his name. Taking a deep breath, he turned, wondering what the hell somebody wanted badly enough that they had followed him out to his car.

“Cris, I…” Gareth. He had run up to Cristiano’s car and was panting softly, stray pieces of hair still plastered to his face with sweat from the game. “Are you okay? I saw you leaving, I didn’t think…”

Cristiano squeezed his eyes shut for a long moment, trying to compose himself. Anybody could see them there, and he didn’t want tomorrow morning’s headlines to be about how he had lashed out at Gareth Bale after the big game.

“Gareth,” Cristiano started warily, wondering why the Welshman always had to come along and ruin things.

“No, Cris. Let me say this, please.”

He bit his lip and nodded slightly, loosening his grip on the handle of his car door. He didn’t speak again, though, not sure how well that would go for him.

“You don’t have to be upset, alright? It’s okay.” Cristiano flinched a bit whenever Gareth put a hand on his shoulder but didn’t stop him. “We were all off. It could have been any of us that made one misstep and got a card, you shouldn’t beat yourself up over it.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” Gareth’s lips twitched up into a small smile, the one that warmed Cristiano’s chest and made it hard to stay mad at anything. “I guess I can let you go then.”

“I guess.”

Gareth pulled his hand away, still looking at Cristiano. “You’re sure you’ll be okay?”

“Aren’t I always?” Cristiano again reached for his car door, a bit more gentle this time. “Like you said. It’s okay.”

Gareth smiled for real at that and nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you at practice, Cris. Get some rest, we all need it.”

“You, too.”

As Gareth walked away, Cristiano found himself smiling, too, especially whenever he stopped to look back at him. He was still mad, sure, how couldn’t he be? And whenever he got home, he still threw his phone against the wall and cracked the screen, letting out a string of Portuguese curses whenever he realised that he had done the latter.

But whenever he read a text from Gareth that read, ‘Feel better! <3 Let me know how you’re doing.’ through that broken screen, he smiled again all the same.


	2. Orange

James’s eyes had been on him all practice, and he knew it. He wasn’t exactly subtle, and Cristiano had to wonder if he _wanted_ him to notice. He didn’t do anything about it, though. The boy’s admiration for him was quite widely known, and he was pretty much used to it by then, from James and from other players who had been at the club at various points in time.

As long as it wasn’t affecting his performance at all, he supposed that it didn’t much matter, anyway. And _maybe_ he fed into it a little bit, getting a bit touchy with James whenever he had a good play, but still. No big deal.

At the end of practice, as they were all heading off, James came up to him with a bit of a shy smile, when he was conveniently a bit far away from the rest of the group. “Good job today,” James offered, and Cristiano chuckled.

“You too.” Leaning in a bit closer, he murmured, “You’ve grown a lot since you came here. I’m proud.”

And then he gave James a small, half-hug, and jogged to catch up with the rest of the team. He wasn’t approached by him again as he changed out of his sweaty clothes, but Sergio winked at him and sort of gestured toward James at one point. Cristiano just rolled his eyes and mouthed back, “No.”

As Cristiano was walking out, he felt a hand on his wrist. He looked back, a little bit surprised whenever he saw Gareth, smiling up at him sheepishly. “Hey, Cris. Are you busy? Luka, Karim, and I were gonna go grab a bite to eat, and you’re welcome to come.”

He nodded slightly as Gareth pulled away his hand. “Yeah, why not?”

Gareth smiled and stepped out into the hall by Cristiano, leaning against the wall as he waited for the others. “James was all over you today, hm?” he asked in a hushed tone, smirking slightly.

Cristiano rolled his eyes. “Can you blame him?” he teased, smirking a bit himself.

Gareth looked him over. “Suppose not.”

Cris just chuckled, shaking his head. Around that time, Luka came out, followed by Karim and James. Cristiano rose an eyebrow, vaguely gesturing to James as he looked at Gareth, but the Welshman just shrugged. James whispered something to Karim and he laughed, playfully shoving him.

Cristiano just watched the two of them, smiling slightly whenever he heard Karim ask, “James, you want to come out with us? I’m sure nobody would mind.”

“Oh, it’s alright.” James gave a small smile, shaking his head gently. “I promised Marcelo…”

Karim gave him a knowing look, and Cris had to muffle a snicker. Still, James gave the Frenchman a small kiss on the cheek before he walked away, presumably to go catch up with Marcelo. He also turned around and waved at Cristiano, winking before facing away once more.

Cristiano briefly waved back, but soon turned his attention back to their small group. “Let’s get going too, then?”

“Good idea,” Karim agreed. “Sucks that James can’t come.”

Luka and Cristiano agreed, and within seconds he could feel Gareth’s breath, hot on his ear.

“Don’t worry. We can have plenty of fun without him.”

Cristiano blinked, just starting to follow all of them out whenever he got a text.

‘ _Know what’s up with Gaz? He was pretty adamant on getting me to take James out somewhere. I think he might be trying to set us up._ ’

He glanced at Gareth again, smiling to himself as he put his phone back in his pocket without responding.

Yeah, they could have plenty of fun.


	3. Yellow

“Cris? Please. Please. Please pick up…”

“Hey, Gareth. What’s up? I’m a bit busy right now, but…”

Gareth’s heart sank a little bit, and he wondered if he should just hang up. “Oh. No, that’s fine. Where are you?”

“Nothing serious, I’m just out with Fabio. We’re almost leaving anyway, it’s getting really late.”

“You’re out? Right now?” Gareth peeked past his curtain to look at the dark storm raging outside, only jerking away at a loud roar of thunder. “I just… If you’re busy… I mean you are busy, but…”

“Gareth.”

“Okay look I just really hate storms and usually I just sleep through them but right now I’m awake and I can’t sleep and please help.”

There was silence for a long moment, and Gareth had the brief thought that he was going to get hung up on. Instead, Cristiano’s voice cut through the silence, soft and reassuring as possible. “Hey. Calm down, Gareth. We’re leaving right now, I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“Thank you…” Gareth shivered a bit and curled up tighter in his blanket. He didn’t know what to say after that so he said nothing, just holding his phone close.

“I’ll see in a few minutes, alright Gareth? Just stay calm, I’ll be right there.”

“Alright,” Gareth agreed in a small tone, setting his phone down on the bed. After a minute he forced himself to stand, going to make hot chocolate, two mugs. Hot chocolate always helped, right?

By the time the door was opening, Gareth was sitting on his bed, holding his mug with both hands and breathing in the steam. He didn’t get up or say anything but Cristiano stepping in all the same, looking cold.

Gareth cleared his throat to make himself known, looking over toward the door. Cristiano smiled and quickly took off his wet jacket, hanging it up before rushing to Gareth’s side. “Hey,” he murmured softly, gently wrapping an arm around him and rubbing his arm. “If you want to sleep, lying down’s a good first step.”

He nodded slightly, managing a small smile already. “I made hot chocolate,” he said after a moment.

Cristiano looked to the mug on the nightstand and nodded, carefully picking it up with his free hand. “Thank you. Always so thoughtful, hm?”

Gareth leaned against Cris slightly, closing his eyes for a long moment. “I try my best.”

“I know you do.” Cristiano sipped at his hot chocolate, and for a long time they just stayed like that. Eventually Gareth put his mug down on the table, letting his eyes fall shut as he leaned against the other.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been, but at some point Cristiano realised that Gareth was asleep against him. He smiled, just watching him for a while. Whenever he did resign himself to wake Gareth up, he just gently shook him, not wanting to scare him. “Gareth…” he murmured.

“Hm...?” Gareth blinked a few times as he looked up at him, really only waking up when a loud clap of thunder shook the room. He bit his lip, looking up at Cristiano.

“Hey. We do have a game tomorrow, you know,” Cristiano whispered. “You need to sleep not sitting up and leaning on me.”

“No, I thought we were in a hotel in Pamplona just because.”

Cristiano smiled but didn’t respond, standing up and carefully laying Gareth down on the bed. “You gonna be able to sleep, now?”

“Maybe.” Gareth looked up at him, still seeming a bit shaky. “Cris, maybe…”

“What is it?”

But Gareth just shook his head. “Nothing. You get some sleep too.”

“Alright.” Cristiano started to clean their two mugs, humming softly to himself. Well, at least everything had turned out okay. Yet whenever he finished and headed over to his own bed, Gareth was still just watching him, curled up tight in a blanket. “Gareth?”

“Can’t sleep,” he mumbled, pulling his blanket up to cover everything but his eyes.

Cristiano rolled his eyes. “Would you like me to do something to help?”

“Well, I was sleeping fine when you were right here.”

Cristiano nodded slightly. “If it will really help you, I could push our beds--”

“Please.”

Gareth was watching him over the top of his blanket the whole time, and before too long their beds were pushed together side-by-side. “There we go. This good?”

Gareth nodded. Cristiano smiled and quickly actually got ready for bed, getting under the covers like always. Yet the other still just looked at him, not closing his eyes. “Come closer?” he asked, pouting just a bit, and who was Cris to deny that?

So he scooted closer until they were practically touching, and then, and only then, was Gareth happy. “ _ This _ good?” Cristiano asked, and Gareth nodded. “Alright, good. Now sleep.”

“I will.” Whenever Gareth gently took a hold of Cristiano’s hand, he didn’t stop him. And whenever Gareth squeezed it harder at the next sound of thunder, he found that he didn’t mind at all.


	4. Green

“You won’t.”

“I will. I might not be happy that I lost, but a bet’s a bet. I’ll do it.” Gareth followed Pepe’s gaze to where Cristiano was talking to Fabio, swallowing hard. “Maybe.”

Pepe snickered, shaking his head. “If it’s gonna happen, let’s see it, yeah?”

Gareth nodded slightly, crossing his arms. “As soon as Fabio walks away,” he agreed. He wasn’t going to interrupt their conversation just for a stupid dare. Unfortunately for him, however, the conversation between the two Portuguese men only lasted a minute or two longer.

Pepe smirked and nudged Gareth forward. He glared back at him for a moment before approaching Cristiano, a bit fidgety. “Hey, Cris,” he said quietly, glancing back at Fabio as he walked away.

“Hey. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just… Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you? Somewhere more private?”

Cristiano looked at him doubtfully but nodded. “Yeah, of course. Wherever.”

Gareth smiled slightly and was quick to lead Cris out of the locker room, glaring again at Pepe as the two of them walked out. Well, they were out now, technically he didn’t have to do anything…

But he had gotten this far, right?

“Let’s just… walk down the hall a little bit…” Once they were a considerable distance from the locker room, Gareth stopped, looking up at Cris and quickly trying to craft the right words to say.

“Gareth, what is going on?”

“I, uh… Do you want to go out and, like? Do something?”

The Portuguese didn’t look impressed. “Gareth. If you want to go do something, you don’t have to ask me all private like this, you know. Everybody knows that we’re close, it’s not a big deal.”

“I know! Just…” Gareth huffed, glancing back toward the locker room for a moment. “Okay, look, Pepe and I had a bet and I lost and he said I had to ask you out on a sort of date and I wasn’t going to say  _ no _ so here I am. I know that we’re together all of the time anyway, but I wasn’t going to tell him. Maybe he knows that already, but I don’t know.”

“Gareth.” That grounded him a bit, but he still flushed, tightly crossing his arms as if that might help. “How don’t you see it? This is the easiest you’ll get off your entire life, the only thing you have to do is go out with me and we would probably be doing that anyway.”

Gareth blinked, thinking about it. He supposed that Cris was right. He smiled slowly, letting his arms fall to his sides. “Well. Let’s go do something, then, right?”

“Of course. Come on, there’s a new restaurant open, and I’ve been wanting to go check it out sometime. I can drive us.”

“Sounds perfect.” Whenever Cristiano took his hand, Gareth blushed again, looking up at him to try to figure out what he was doing. “Cris…?”

“Well, Pepe hasn’t come out of the locker room still, he’s probably waiting to see us leaving, hm? You’re supposed to be taking me out on a date, we may as well do it the right way.”

Gareth couldn’t help laughing. “You’re horrible.”

“I try. Now come on.”

As they walked by, Gareth didn’t even look to see if Pepe was watching. If he was, great, if not, he didn’t care. An evening out with Cristiano was worth it either way.


	5. Blue

It was almost as if he and Gareth were the only two people in the world. The only sound was that of the Welshman’s breathing, and there were no obligations weighing him down, no real reason to try to get up.

Cristiano’s being there was actually a bit of an accident in the first place. He had taken Gareth home after practice, Gareth had invited him in and they’d stayed up all night, leading to them unintentionally falling asleep on the couch together. Not that he was complaining, of course.

Gareth was beautiful, hair still up in a loose bun, eyes closed without a care in the world. Whenever he eventually shifted and blinked them open, Cris just smiled slightly at how cute he was when he was just waking up. He had seen it before, sure, but it was a sight that he’d never get sick of.

“Good morning,” he murmured, suppressing a chuckle at the look of confusion on Gareth’s face.

“Cris…” Gareth started after a moment. “Why…”

“Shh…” Cristiano smiled gently and shook his head. “We fell asleep here last night, remember? It’s fine.”

Gareth nodded, slowly sitting up. He didn’t say anything else at first, just looking at Cris. He blinked a few times more, not really seeming like he was ready to be awake at all.

“If you want me to take you to your bed, I can,” Cristiano offered softly, to which Gareth just nodded slightly, too tired to turn down any such offer. And Cris was still a bit tired too, but that didn’t matter. He brought himself to stand, looking down at the other on the couch. “How do you want me to do this?”

“Any way,” Gareth mumbled, looking up at him through half-lidded eyes.

Yeah, he would definitely never get sick of seeing this.

“Alright…” Cristiano was very careful, but it didn’t take much effort to lift Gareth into his arms bridal style, holding him against his chest. “That good?”

“Yeah.” Almost immediately the other clung to him, face pressed into the crook of his neck. Cristiano swallowed hard and slowly walked toward Gareth’s room, supposing that it was no big deal.

“We’ll get you settled in, then I can head home, and we’ll see each other later, right?”

He could feel Gareth nodded slightly and he glanced down at him, unable to help another smile. Once they were to his room, he carefully sat him down on the bed, going to gently tug his hair down from the bun.

“Cristiano?”

He glanced up to him from the hair tie, licking his lips. “Yeah?” He knew the sweet, innocent tone, when Gareth would ask him to stay a while longer, to lie down with him, to do anything, really.

“Thank you. I… Just know that you’re more than welcome to stay.”

There was an underlying invitation there, and they both knew it. Cristiano knew that Gareth wouldn’t mind if he stayed there a few hours longer, of course he wouldn’t. And he also knew that Gareth wouldn’t mind if he was there forever, and those were two very different things.

He looked at the other thoughtfully, starting to shake his head. “I appreciate it, but I ought to let you get a few more hours of sleep, we have things to do this afternoon.”

Gareth looked a bit disappointed, but nodded. “Alright.” He already looked like he was about to fall back asleep, so Cristiano figured it best to leave him.

“One day, though,” he said as he was turning to leave. “One day I’ll have to stay a while longer. Have a good sleep, Gareth.”

As Cristiano drove home in the dark of the morning, he could still feel the promise lingering on his lips.  _ One day. _

Later that day, when James made a passing comment about the hair tie on Cristiano’s wrist and gave him a look, he knew that there was something on the verge of happening. That maybe it was more than just driving each other home and occasionally falling asleep inches from each other’s arms.

And maybe, just maybe, that was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhh just two more ;)


	6. Indigo

“He’s… sick? Is he  _ sick _ sick, is he okay, is he…”

“Gareth, calm down.” Sergio smiled reassuringly, though it did little to calm him. “Cris is going to be just fine, he just said that he was feeling a bit sick and thought that it would be best if he stays home, just for a day.”

He nodded slightly, swallowing hard. He was sure that Cristiano would be fine, he always was. And if it was something serious, he would have told him… Perhaps that was what bothered him the most. That Cris hadn’t called, texted, anything to let him know. Not that it was his responsibility to, but…

Gareth spent all practice thinking about the absent Portuguese, and he was sure that everybody knew it. He definitely wasn’t playing at his best, but nobody said anything about it to him. He left before anybody could say anything to him after practice, too. He had somewhere much more important to be.

The thought that he should just try calling Cristiano had flashed through his head briefly, but he decided that he would rather be there with him. And of course he had the thought, too, that Cristiano didn’t  _ want _ him there, but he just tried to ignore it. Why wouldn’t he? Unless he was really  _ that _ sick… in which case he needed to be there even more.

Whenever he got to the door he immediately reached for his keys, knowing that the one to Cristiano’s place was there beside his own, as it had been for a while. But he hesitated, taking a deep breath, and instead reached up to knock.

“Go away!” came a familiar voice in no time at all, and Gareth couldn’t help but to smile slightly.

“Even me?” he called back, gently biting the corner of his lip. He supposed that if Cris wanted to be alone he should leave him alone, but he wasn’t going to leave  _ that _ easily.

There was a very, very long silence, and nothing happened. Gareth just stood outside the door, wondering if he was ignoring him, or if he hadn’t heard. He was thinking of what more he could possibly say whenever the door cracked open.

“Ah.” He could see Cristiano peeking out the door, just barely. “What are you doing here?”

Gareth smiled. “Well I’m here to see you, of course.”

“Go back home, Gareth. I’m fine.”

“If you were fine, you’d let me in.”

He heard Cristiano sighing, and the door opened just a little bit more. “Only because it’s you,” Cris mumbled, and he was more than okay with that.

He slipped in through the door whenever he saw Cristiano step out of the way, pushing it shut behind him. “Thank you.” He looked up at the Portuguese, taking a moment to look him over. He took a deep breath. “Cris, you look like shit.”

“Did you just come here to insult me?” Cristiano scowled, leaving Gareth there in the doorway as he turned toward his bedroom.

At first Gareth stood and watched, but he couldn’t help but to follow. “You know that I don’t mean it like that. Cristiano, I just want you to be okay.”

His words weren’t enough to stop him, so he just following him into the room, lingering near the door as Cristiano collapsed into his bed, face buried in his pillow. “I am okay,” he mumbled.

“No…” Gareth made his way over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, running a hand through Cristiano’s hair. “Look, I’m not leaving, alright? If you don’t want to talk to me, you don’t have to, but I want to be here for you.”

Cristiano didn’t respond. He just lied there, silent and unmoving, except for when he coughed (which was way too often). Gareth continued to stroke his hair, wishing that there was more that he could do for him. “Cris,” he murmured after however long, “will you tell me what’s wrong? I can bring you medicine, water, anything you need...”

There was no response for a while, but Cristiano eventually moved, sitting up and looking over at Gareth. “Everything,” he groaned, and it hurt to see how close to tears he was. “I feel like I’m dying. I can’t breathe, my throat hurts, I want to throw up, and no amount of medicine is helping. Zidane says I shouldn’t play in the match, and I…” He let his voice trail off, just looking helplessly at Gareth.

The Welshman couldn’t help himself. By the time Cristiano finished talking, he was wrapping his arms around him tightly, not caring that he was sick. “Cris, I’m really sorry…”

“Not your fault,” Cristiano mumbled, and Gareth just squeezed tighter.

“I know. But you don’t deserve this. You’ll probably be okay by this weekend, too, so don’t feel too bad about not playing tomorrow…”

“How can I  _ not _ feel bad about it?”

Gareth sighed, knowing that there probably weren’t a lot of words that would help him. “I know…” He finally pulled away from the hug, gently cupping Cristiano’s cheek. “I promise that you’ll be okay. I’ll be here as long as you’ll have me, so hopefully I can make it at least a little bit better?”

“A bit,” Cristiano agreed after a moment, trying to smile slightly.

“Just lie down and try to get some sleep,” Gareth murmured soothingly, finally bringing himself to pull away his hand. He licked his lips, wishing with everything that he had that there was more that he could do. Before he could convince himself not to, he leaned forward and brushed a gentle kiss against Cris’s forehead. “It’ll all be fine.”

Cristiano looked vaguely amused, just nodding. “Good idea,” he agreed with a sigh, slowly forcing himself to lie back down. “You’ll be here when I wake up?”

Gareth leaned over to kiss his forehead again, not missing how the Portuguese smiled just a bit more. “Of course, Cris. I’ll be here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, y'all know what's coming. Feel free to comment here or message me on gareth-walker.tumblr.com!


	7. Violet

Gareth looked up at the sky, eyes tracing all of the constellations. He didn’t know the names of any of them, but they were pretty. The fresh air was nice, either way.

The rest of the team was inside celebrating, something that the faint sound of music wouldn’t allow him to forget. He was out on the balcony, leaning forward, just trying to enjoy the faint breeze.

He was happy that they had won, of course. To be going to the Champions League final was  _ huge _ . He just wished that he could shake the headache that had haunted him since taking a knock to the head during the game.

“Hey, Gareth?”

He blinked at the sound of his name, music noticeably louder until the door shut again. “Cris.”

Cristiano walked up beside him, following Gareth’s gaze to the stars. “It sure is nice out here, hm?”

Gareth just nodded. “It’s nice to cool down.” He finally looked over to the Portuguese. “What are you doing out here? If anybody should be celebrating, it’s you. We wouldn't have won without you.”

“Well, I figured if you were out here, there must be something worthwhile outside.”

He shrugged. “Just getting some air.”

“And you’re out here, no? That’s reason enough in itself.”

Gareth only chuckled and shook his head. “Ever the romantic, aren’t you?”

“You know me.”

There was silence between them after that, but it wasn’t the uncomfortable silence that would sometimes come to haunt them before they really knew each other, before they made the connection that they had now.

Cristiano let out a soft sigh, shaking his head slightly as he looked down to the ground below.

“What is it?” Gareth asked, stepping a bit closer to the other, looking over at him intently.

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Lots of things.” Cristiano looked up at Gareth with a bit of a smirk. “Winning today. Scoring today. How much everybody loves me.”

Gareth laughed and rolled his eyes. “Just all of your successes, then?”

“Everything  _ has _ gone well for me today, you have to admit. Obviously I couldn’t have done it without you and the team though, you know that.”

“I suppose so,” he agreed. “It’s been a good day.”

“Right?” Cristiano looked like he was about to say more, but the sound of the door opening again stopped him.

They both turned to the door, where Sergio was standing, a grin on his face. “Could you two lovebirds get in here already? We’re about to have a dance contest and I need some backup! I will not let the rest of the team beat me.”

Cristiano laughed. “Yeah, yeah, just a minute. Go grab another drink real quick or something,” he offered with a wink, looking back to Gareth as the door shut again with no more than a, “Good idea!” from Sergio.

Gareth just shook his head, leaning heavily against the railing and looking down. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Am I?” Slowly, gently, Cristiano’s hands came to rest on Gareth’s waist, and he stepped behind him, doing nothing but holding him there.

Gareth’s breath caught. Cris’s did, too. “Yeah,” Gareth murmured. “We… we should go inside, yeah? Wouldn’t want to miss whatever Sergio’s about to do.”

“Yeah, probably. They’ll be missing us.” Neither of them made any move to go inside. “Gareth?”

“Mm?”

“I really like you.”

A beat of silence passed. “I really like you, too.”

“Most people do.”

Gareth breathed out a laugh, slowly twisting to look back at Cristiano. “Ah, but I have a feeling that I’m a bit different.”

“I have a feeling that you might be right.” Cristiano let go, stepping back. He walked slowly to the door, Gareth following behind after a moment. He stopped at the door, though, hand lingering over the doorknob. “Gareth?” he asked again.

“Cris?”

The Portuguese just smiled and turned to face Gareth, quickly leaning forward to brush a kiss against his lips. Gareth just stared back, stunned.

Then, after a long moment, “That’s what you call a kiss?”

Cristiano let his hand drop from the doorknob. “I can do better if you’ll let me.”

“I don’t think I’d mind too much.”

There was nothing that could stop Cristiano from being on Gareth in that instant, pressing up against him and interlocking their lips again. They stayed there for what seemed like hours and seconds all at once. By the time Cristiano pulled away again, he was sure that there was nobody he wanted more.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Cris… God, I love you.”

They didn’t stick around the party too much longer, and nobody batted an eye as they left together. That night they fell asleep in the same bed, Gareth's headache forgotten, safe in each other's arms, and nothing in the world able to separate them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you've enjoyed xx don't take any of this too seriously, just a little thing to work on occasionally when I couldn't focus on anything else. Hit me up in the comments or @ jacklisowski.tumblr.com!!


End file.
